Encouraging Children to be Kind

"No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child.  The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure."
―  Emma Goldman 

Two of the Kindness Muses, good friends who live in Virginia, sent me a link to a video about encouraging kindness in children.  How to Praise Your Child is an offering by Prager University, a virtual university founded by Dennis Prager (talk show host, columnist and speaker) where all the courses are five minutes or less.  This one is shorter than four and a half minutes and worth watching, http://www.prageruniversity.com/Life-Studies/How-to-Praise-Your-Child.html.
 

In this short video, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin makes a proposal that he says can "immediately and exponentially increase both goodness and happiness on Earth."  His very simple proposal is:

Parents -- and all other adults -- should reserve their highest praise of children for when children do kind acts.

Rabbi Telushkin says that generally children receive the highest compliments in four areas:  intellectual and academic achievements, athletic abilities, artistic attainment and looks (especially girls).  And while achievements in these areas are important, Rabbi Telushkin says that they are only important if you are a good person.  He says that by praising children's kindness, we will help them feel better about themselves when they are acting kindly, which will tie their self-esteem to goodness more than to anything else.  Rabbi Telushkin says that if his proposal catches on, "we will raise a generation of people who most like themselves when they are doing good."

Rabbi Telushkin certainly got me thinking...  So when my son came home today and told me that he had been kind to a child in his class with whom he normally doesn't play, I made sure to listen and to compliment him for his kindness.

Given that we become kinder as we get older and wiser, I have to agree with Rabbi Telushkin (and cyberspace's favorite commencement speaker George Saunders*).  Why not encourage children as early as possible?

*  Random House recently announced that it would publish an expanded version of Mr. Saunders' speech in book form.  "Congratulations, by the Way" is scheduled for release in the spring of 2014.